Before lawmakers act, they need to think: If stimulus money supports a proliferation of systems that can’t exchange information, we will only be replacing paper-based silos of medical information with more expensive, computer-based silos that are barely more useful. Critical information will remain trapped in proprietary systems, unable to get to where it’s needed.

I would suggest that we be concerned also about the proliferation of systems that keep patients’ health information opaque to patients themselves. The new HHS Privacy Framework, in my opinion, seems to open the door to this possibility (I will quote on it in a post tomorrow) – if a stimulus money is given to a system, should the system also be interoperable with patients and their families by giving them access to it?